Anyone Compared ARC Ref 75SE and 75 With KT150

I got an used REF 75 with KT150 tubes (not 75SE) which i compared with my REF 250 with KT150.

I also tried GS150 yesterday which sounds very good but i liked the sound of my 250s with KT150.

In both cases i liked my 250s . The only option for me to upgrade is to upgrade to 250SE now .

Verrapaneni

I noticed in your prior post from two days ago you said you just got a "NEW" GS 150,and today you posted you thought it was very good but not as good as your well broken in (I presume) ARC REF 250. All the ARC amps need 600 hundred hours on them to reach their full potential . Perhaps you might want to at least put a few hundred hours on the GS 150 and revaluate it . I know from prior conversations with several people at ARC, that they think the GS 150 is the best amp they have ever made. Of course once the REF 250 SE if finally released it probably will surpass the GS.
Cheers.......

Why compare monoblocks with higher power (and cost)against stereo amplifiers with lower power (and cost) thinking it reflects on the absolute amplifier quality? The only thing that can be determined is which is a better match for the speakers being used.

And yes, the more powerful and more expensive amplifiers may be better by some definitions but that does not diminish the performance of the lower power/cost amplifiers when appropriately matched with speakers.

I thought waiting for 600 hours will not bring the quality I was getting from from 250s. I have asked my dealer to ship me 250SE and I should be receiving them tomorrow or Monday. Will post comparison of gs150 asp do 250se.

Veerapeneni ... as others have posted above, both amps must be fully broken in (600 hours) before doing serious critical listening.

Btw, did you ever speak with Kal. He is very familiar with ARC's products and can give a sense of what to expect.

Here's some Ref 150 SE comments. Last night I was listening to some old CDs of John Gardiner conducting the Orchestre Révolutionnaire (Canada) performances of Beethoven symphonies. IMO, the level of sound stage imaging, detail, tonality of sound was noticeably improved. Of course, my comparison is to my system pre SE upgrade/KT-150s and pre DEQX.

I attribute the improvements in large part to the KT-150/SE upgrade. That said, I can't ignore the possibility that my DEQX PreMATE also made a significant contribution as well.

BIF